Respecting, supporting and remembering
our veterans and their families

Life lessons thanks to the Invictus Games

19-Oct-2018

Life lessons thanks to the Invictus Games by Nicola Barton

Year five students from York Public School will have the
opportunity to travel to the Invictus Games 2018 thanks to the City of Penrith
RSL Sub-Branch.

The school has received a $3000 donation to go towards their
tickets and transport.

Penrith RSL Sub-Branch President, Mick McConnell said it’s
all about passing down the history to young children.

“The RSL NSW is heavily involved in the Invictus Games and
seeing as York Public School is in our area we thought that it would be fitting
to help them out, so they can all go to the games and watch the events to see
how these disabled veterans cope,” Mr McConnell said.

“We want to encourage the children to be accepting, to try
and help these people and just to understand that they do have these certain
disabilities and it’s not their fault.”

York Public School teacher, Kelly Linford helped create the
Invictus Games Syllabus launched by Minister for Veterans Affairs, David Elliot
which aimed to create awareness and understanding about the military.

Ms Linford said the experience is about opening the
children’s eyes up to see what’s happening in the world and not just what’s in
front of them on a screen.

“I created the adaptive sports modules which involves a
variety of activities for example netball, but you have to use your
non-dominant arm or doing an obstacle course blindfolded where the children
must listen carefully to instructions from their teammates.

“We go to work and we come home but for these people they go
to work, they’ve been injured, and their lives are then impacted forever and
for my class they are really learning what it means to be resilient.”

As part of the Invictus Games teaching program, students
spent a whole day using their non-writing hand and only one arm to do
everything from sport to opening their lunch boxes.

10-year-old Sienna Farr said she’s looking forward to seeing
what they’ve been learning about in real life.

“I’m excited that I get to see the athletes compete and try
their best,” she said.

The Invictus Games Sydney 2018 will be held at Sydney
Olympic Park from Saturday, October 20-27.

York Public School thanked the City of Penrith RSL
Sub-Branch for their support and said without them they wouldn’t have been able
to be part of the experience.